A clear, concise look at the considerations the central bank of the world's largest democracy is juggling and balancing. Combined with the country's digital identity system, Aadhaar, which the IMF seems to like despite its flaws and vulnerabilities and you can glimpse the future, now.
From the RBI, FinTech Department, October 2022 the bit that grabs everyone's attention:
pp.34
5.7 Programmability One interesting application of CBDC is the technical possibility of programmability. CBDCs have the possibility of programming the money by tying the end use. For example, agriculture credit by banks can be programmed to ensure that is used only at input store outlets. Similarly, for MSMEs etc., that may take care of the issue of diversion of funds and further financial inclusion. This may help in ensuring the end-use which banks have to continuously grapple with across the globe. However, the programmability feature of CBDC needs to be carefully examined in order to retain the essential features of a currency. It can also have other implications for monetary policy transmission as tokens may have an expiry date, by which they would need to be spent, thus ensuring consumption. The programmability of tokens can be achieved using the following....
....MUCH MORE (51 page PDF)
Add Izabella Kaminska's primer on CBDC's and you'll be able to face the future, loins girded.
From The Art of Manliness:
If you’ve read the Bible, then you’ve probably come across the phrase “gird up your loins.” I’ve always thought it was a funny turn of phrase. Loins….heh.
Back in the days of the ancient Near East, both men and women wore flowing tunics. Around the tunic, they’d wear a belt or girdle. While tunics were comfortable and breezy, the hem of the tunic would often get in the way when a man was fighting or performing hard labor. So when ancient Hebrew men had to battle the Philistines, the men would lift the hem of their tunic up and tuck it into their girdle or tie it in a knot to keep it off the ground. The effect basically created a pair of shorts that provided more freedom of movement....MORE
Also at the Art of Manliness:
How to Recover From a Bad First Impression
